Steven A. Cohen didn’t let a mounting insider-trading investigation of his hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors stop him from attending the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Cohen, who has come to Davos for the past three years, attended a discussion entitled “The Digital Infrastructure Context,” where panelists including Drew Houston, chief executive officer of Dropbox Inc., and Qualcomm Inc. head Paul Jacobs, were scheduled to address issues such as data security and challenges for governments, regulators and consumers.
Cohen, whose firm is based in Stamford, Connecticut, declined to comment when approached after the panel.
The fund manager is joining world leaders, Nobel laureates and fellow billionaires as they discuss the state of the global economy under the motto “Resilient Dynamism.” The logic of the organizers, as spelled out in the program for the Jan. 23 to 27 event, is that hard times require “successful organizations to master strategic agility and to build risk resilience.”
Late last year the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told SAC that it is considering pursuing civil fraud claims related to alleged insider trading in two drugmakers by a former fund manager at the firm. Prosecutors say Cohen, 56, discussed the stocks with the trader, the first time government officials have linked him to a transaction at the center of an insider- trading case.
At least eight current or former SAC employees have been tied to allegations of insider trading while working at the hedge fund. Four have pleaded guilty to federal charges, including one who is serving a prison sentence.
Cohen, through a spokesman, has said he is confident that he has acted appropriately and that SAC continues to cooperate with the government’s inquiry.
After Davos, Cohen plans to go to Palm Beach, Florida, where he will attend the Morgan Stanley hedge-fund conference at the Breakers hotel, according to a person familiar with his plans. The person asked not to be named because Cohen’s travel schedule is private.
